A Neighborhood Story With a Good Ending

Went to the movies Saturday night. Saw Good Night and Good Luck. It is very good.
We walked back (from BAM) to have dinner in the neighborhood and wound up at Stone Park. We had to wait for a table and so had a drink at the bar (fine with me!) where we picked up some interesting background info on some characters in The Squid and The Whale.
We had dinner, wine, after dinner drink This is all in the way of an excuse as to why I probably left my purse there. Which is what I did. I didn't realize it was missing until late Sunday morning while searching for my iPod nano. – It was in the purse, along with all my IDs charge cards and plenty of cash.
I called the restaurant and explained that I thought I probably left my purse the night before. The hostess cheerfully reported that it was locked in the manager's office and I could come down and pick it up at my convenience.
Everything was in it. Completely undisturbed.

Traditions

Thanksgiving Morning 2005: I am in preparation mode.
I have two mandolines set up on the kitchen island ready to slice, dice and julienne the ingredients of my winter vegetable salad. It’s mainly fennel, celery root and parsley in good vinaigrette and spiked with Castlemango (an aged Piedmont mountain cheese) difficult to find, even in NYC. But thanks to the miracle of the Internet – I have obtained it – at a price. I only have the salad to make. But I have to make enough for forty. Thanksgiving is a group effort in this family. It has to be.
Younger child arrived in a cab from LaGuardia early this morning. He could only get tickets on the crack of dawn flight out of Chicago. He is already in his childhood bedroom under the covers, the result of having worked until 2:00 or 3:00 AM last night. I don’t understand this. I see it in his sister too, and their father. Where does this drive and necessity to work late into the night come from? Is it that my job is so different than theirs? – The emergencies of childhood so able to wait until tomorrow? Most of them solved by a good night’s sleep anyway.
We will take off about 3:00 PM or so. The drive to Rumson, NJ normally takes only an hour but getting there from Brooklyn involves driving through Staten Island and that can be a problem even when it’s not Thanksgiving. If we get there by 5:00 PM it will give us a good two hours of drinking and hors d’oeuvres before the main meal. This will insure that we won’t be able to eat more than a teaspoonful of each of the many courses served. It will also guarantee that the lability-index will be sufficiently ratcheted up by the time the “toast-grace” is given by my sister and or brother-in-law. As they lost a son in April – an amazing and wonderful person – I can’t imagine what they will come up with to be thankful for.

Gallery of Drinks 4

This is a beauty.
Its color is derived from the particular types of liquor I use.
A Margarita on the rocks with salt ( but easy on the salt)
The first Margarita I ever had was a giant frozen one, in a dive in the West Village (still there!) called Tortilla Flats. It was the mid 80's. I was teaching first grade at the time and my teaching cohort was a west coast transpant. "What! You've never had a Margarita?"
I'm still a sucker for frozen "M"s but in a real restaurant or at home – I do rocks.
This one is particularly...not sweet.

2 oz. of Cuervo Gold ( I've always liked Steely Dan)
2 oz. of fresh lime juice
1 1/2 oz. of Mathilde orange liqueur
1/2 tsp of powdered sugar

Shake it all together and serve it in a tall glass (whose rim has been gently dipped in kosher salt) over mucho crushed ice.

(You're not getting any dietary pats-on-the-back from this drink, so forget the calorie count. On the other hand, you'll never get scurvy! "You Limey!")

Mr. Clean

Every Saturday morning, the grandson gets dropped off for a few hours so the parents can get some errands done. I look forward to it. For one thing, my floors get done. This child is obsessed with cleaning. Give him a rag, a Swiffer, even a vacuum cleaner and he's a happy camper. He'll sweep or rake in yard too.
It must be the Irish in his genetic history.

Gallery of Drinks 3

I am enjoying this drink right now with a lovely pork chop, braised with celery and sauerkraut.

The Bloody Mary is an underrated drink, mainly because it is nearly impossible to get a well-made one. They are labor intensive and need several ingredients and, let's face it, everyone has a different idea of how it should come out.
Here's mine.

Use a shaker. Pour in (at least) 2 oz. of vodka, the juice of a whole fresh lemon, 5 or 6 ounces of V8 ( I prefer this to plain tomato juice) a short teaspoon of horseradish, and a couple of shakes each of Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Add a few ice cubes and shake.
Pour the drink over fresh ice cubes into a tall flared glass. Add a stick of celery and fresh piece of lime to garnish. Drink.

Nutritional Information:
Calories: approx. 180
Fat: 0
Protein; 0
Carbohydrates: 17 grams

Really, it's a diet in a glass. You feel so healthy after drinking this